Dry skin

I've struggled with skin issues since I was a teenager. Although my acne wasn't awful, it was bad enough. When it continued into adulthood, I couldn't get rid of our and tried a couple of portability creams, and then birth control, which probably caused its own complications.

Especially in the last few years, I've also fought dry skin. The main problem area are my hands and lips; the later peel constantly, especially in winter.

I've long suspected this was all related to some sort of deficiency, either in my diet or in my body's ability to process what I eat. But even with the diet changes I've made, it hasn't gotten any better.

While many will claim dry skin is a sign of dehydration, it's more often a lack of fat soluble vitamins, especially A and D [src]. Although vitamin D can be obtained from a sufficient level of sun exposure, it needs to be well balanced with vitamin A. Because they are both fat soluble, they are most readily obtained from animal fat. 

I've been eating a lot more butter recently, which is high in both. Liver is also a good source, and I have been trying to incorporate it into our diet, but definitely not enough to provide enough a significant amount. Oily fish is also a good source, bit while I love salmon and other fish, good fish is really expensive in Munich. 

I haven't noticed any huge difference since increasing butter consumption, but it's only been two or three months. But I want to try something additional to see if there's anything that will help clear up the issue, so I decided to try supplementing with cod liver oil. It's very high in vitamins A, D, and K. Although I prefer to get everything from my diet, I'm not sure that's practical right now, and by supplementing I can be more consistent and therefore better correlate the change to the results. if I see major improvements from supplementing, I may try to cut back on it and increase food sources to see if I can get the same results.

There's a question of fermented vs. non-fermented. It seems that at least today, most brands that are not fermented are also highly processed and therefore stripped of much of their nutrient content. Fermenting preserves the oil but also gives it a repugnant taste, and some have even reported digestive issues after consuming it. I choose the Green Pasture fermented brand, because it's available from Amazon.de and highly recommended. It came in the mail today - so the next step is to see if I can manage to swallow it.

Links:
Weston A Price: Cod liver oil basics
Nourished and Nurtured: Why we stopped taking fermented cod liver oil
Chris Kresser: Nutrition for healthy skin